INTRODUCTION. 37 



poor vessel; even when all three men rowed with all their might, it made only the slowest progress. 

 They nevertheless put out from the shore; but when they got into the river-current, they were carried 

 rapidly out to sea, and were soon several kilometres from the shore. They rowed with all their might 

 in order to cross the current and get into the counter-current that was formed on the border between 

 the current and the still water. The worst of it was that the raft began to go to pieces, so that one 

 man had to hold it together with his hands and feet while the others rowed. 



After a hard struggle they at length reached a little iceberg that was grounded, where they at 

 any rate did not drift away from the shore. Once more they took to the oars, and were fortunate 

 enough to get into the counter-current, which carried them shorewards, while at the same time a gentle 

 sea-breeze also helped a little. The row in was therefore easier than they had ventured to hope, and 

 at last they all reached land safe and sound. 



But when they were safe on terra firma they saw how great the danger had really been; for a 

 fog as dense as a wall came pouring down from the north. If this had come a little sooner while they 

 were rowing, it is highly probable that they would have gone on rowing in a circle all the time while 

 the stream would have driven them farther and farther out; and the result would then have been very 

 doubtful. But now they were on familiar ground; they had only a few miles to go, and six hours 

 after landing, they were all at home. 



A week later, on the 2ist July, at 2 in the morning, the "Wladimir" steamed into the haven, and 

 the expedition broke up hastily, and on the 3rd August reached Archangel. 



12. The Working-up of the Material. From the four Norwegian polar stations here described, a 

 quantity of material was gathered in 1902 and 1903, which has been in process of working up for a 

 long time; but, principally for financial reasons, the publication of the results has not been practicable 

 until now. 



For the gain to science which our auroral expedition has brought, we owe a debt of gratitude not 

 only to those who guaranteed the undertaking financially, but also to others, especially the directing 

 heads of a large number of magnetic and meteorological observatories all over the world. 



Experience from earlier work in this field had clearly shown me that if light was to be thrown 

 upon the phenomena that we had set ourselves to study, it would be of the greatest importance neces- 

 sity, I may say --to obtain simultaneous observations from most parts of the earth. This applies to a 

 certain extent both to cloud-observations and to observations of aurora; but it is of special importance 

 in the study of the magnetic storms, for they, as is generally known, are usually of a universal character. 



With the object of getting, if possible, several observatories to co-operate in these researches, I 

 sent out a circular, dated May, 1902, from Christiania, before the departure of the expedition, to a number 

 of observatories all over the world. 



I will here confine myself to giving a brief extract from this circular f 1 ). 



"As leader of the expedition started by the Norwegian Government for the study of Earth-Magnetism, 

 Polar Aurora and Cirrus clouds, I beg to inform you that during the time from August ist 1902 until 

 June 30th 1903, four Norwegian Stations will be erected, viz. at Bossekop (Finmarken), at Dyrafjord 

 (Iceland), at Axel Island (Spitzbergenl and Matotchkin-Schar (Novaja Zemlja)." 



"The above-mentioned expedition has assumed the task of determining the connection existing 

 between earth-magnetical perturbations, boreal lights and cirrus-clouds." 



"To obtain a happy solution of this task, it is absolutely necessary to get the requisite facts from 

 the largest number of points of observation distributed as widely as possible over the whole earth." 



(') Terr. Magn. and Atm. Electr. June, 1902, pp. 81. 



